KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 10): A minister claimed today that former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pix) had in 2018 requested the authorities to lift the freezing orders on bank accounts belonging to a tycoon who had reportedly received money linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said this happened after tycoon Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng’s lawyer submitted a letter of representation to the then chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull.

“Dr Mahathir had then asked for the letter to be minuted,” Takiyuddin said in the Dewan Rakyat during his winding-up speech on the royal address.

“In the minutes, Dr Mahathir said: ‘I’m of the view that Lim should not be blamed for the misappropriation [of funds] carried out by the former prime minister [Datuk Seri Najib Razak]. Hence, Lim’s personal or company bank accounts can no longer be frozen.”

Takiyudin added that former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng was subsequently minuted as having ordered then Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas to “lift the freeze on accounts as requested by the prime minister”.

In response, he said, Thomas had instructed the MACC to “lift all the freezing orders on Lim’s bank accounts”.

A portion of Thomas’ reply to Guan Eng, according to him, reads: “It is further noted that Tan Sri Lim had on Oct 26, 2018, agreed to return a sum of RM330,000 being the sum equivalent to illicit proceeds received from Najib in relation to the SRC scandal. This was pursuant to an agreement reached between MACC and Tan Sri Lim, which must be respected. The said sum of RM330,000 has been paid to MACC. Accordingly, I have instructed MACC to lift all the freezing orders on Tan Sri Lim’s bank accounts”.

On June 9, PAS youth leader Abdul Razib Abdul Rahim lodged a report with the MACC against Guan Eng and Thomas over abuse of power in relation to the order to unfreeze tycoon Lim’s bank accounts.

"I believe Thomas, who had a direct or indirect interest, had used his office and influence to unfreeze Lim's account, although the MACC had said the tycoon had failed to return RM4 million to the government,” Abdul Razib was quoted as saying in a news report.

Earlier, it was reported that payments made by Najib, meant for two organisations for a weekly Chinese publication and the administration of a Facebook page, went through Lim as a middleman instead of the entities directly.

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